Transact-SQL Syntax ConventionsChanges the properties of a SQL Server login account.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions
-- Syntax for SQL Server
ALTER LOGIN login_name
{
<status_option>
| WITH <set_option> [ ,... ]
| <cryptographic_credential_option>
}
[;]
<status_option> ::=
ENABLE | DISABLE
<set_option> ::=
PASSWORD = 'password' | hashed_password HASHED
[
OLD_PASSWORD = 'oldpassword'
| <password_option> [<password_option> ]
]
| DEFAULT_DATABASE = database
| DEFAULT_LANGUAGE = language
| NAME = login_name
| CHECK_POLICY = { ON | OFF }
| CHECK_EXPIRATION = { ON | OFF }
| CREDENTIAL = credential_name
| NO CREDENTIAL
<password_option> ::=
MUST_CHANGE | UNLOCK
<cryptographic_credentials_option> ::=
ADD CREDENTIAL credential_name
| DROP CREDENTIAL credential_name -- Syntax for Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Data Warehouse
ALTER LOGIN login_name
{
<status_option>
| WITH <set_option> [ ,.. .n ]
}
[;]
<status_option> ::=
ENABLE | DISABLE
<set_option> ::=
PASSWORD ='password'
[
OLD_PASSWORD ='oldpassword'
]
| NAME = login_name -- Syntax for Parallel Data Warehouse
ALTER LOGIN login_name
{
<status_option>
| WITH <set_option> [ ,... ]
}
<status_option> ::=ENABLE | DISABLE
<set_option> ::=
PASSWORD ='password'
[
OLD_PASSWORD ='oldpassword'
| <password_option> [<password_option> ]
]
| NAME = login_name
| CHECK_POLICY = { ON | OFF }
| CHECK_EXPIRATION = { ON | OFF }
<password_option> ::=
MUST_CHANGE | UNLOCK login_name
Specifies the name of the SQL Server login that is being changed. Domain logins must be enclosed in brackets in the format [domain].
ENABLE | DISABLE
Enables or disables this login. Disabling a login does not affect the behavior of logins that are already connected. (Use the KILL statement to terminate an existing connections.) Disabled logins retain their permissions and can still be impersonated.
PASSWORD =’_password_’
Applies only to SQL Server logins. Specifies the password for the login that is being changed. Passwords are case-sensitive.
Continuously active connections to SQL Database require reauthorization (performed by the Database Engine) at least every 10 hours. The Database Engine attempts reauthorization using the originally submitted password and no user input is required. For performance reasons, when a password is reset in SQL Database, the connection will not be re-authenticated, even if the connection is reset due to connection pooling. This is different from the behavior of on-premises SQL Server. If the password has been changed since the connection was initially authorized, the connection must be terminated and a new connection made using the new password. A user with the KILL DATABASE CONNECTION permission can explicitly terminate a connection to SQL Database by using the KILL command. For more information, see KILL (Transact-SQL).
PASSWORD =_hashed_password_
Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2017
Applies to the HASHED keyword only. Specifies the hashed value of the password for the login that is being created.
[!IMPORTANT]
When a login (or a contained database user) connects and is authenticated, the connection caches identity information about the login. For a Windows Authentication login, this includes information about membership in Windows groups. The identity of the login remains authenticated as long as the connection is maintained. To force changes in the identity, such as a password reset or change in Windows group membership, the login must logoff from the authentication authority (Windows or SQL Server and log in again. A member of the sysadmin fixed server role or any login with the ALTER ANY CONNECTION permission can use the KILL command to end a connection and force a login to reconnect. SQL Server SQL Server Management Studio can reuse connection information when opening multiple connections to Object Explorer and Query Editor windows. Close all connections to force reconnection.
HASHED
Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2017
Applies to SQL Server logins only. Specifies that the password entered after the PASSWORD argument is already hashed. If this option is not selected, the password is hashed before being stored in the database. This option should only be used for login synchronization between two servers. Do not use the HASHED option to routinely change passwords.
OLD_PASSWORD =’_oldpassword_’
Applies only to SQL Server logins. The current password of the login to which a new password will be assigned. Passwords are case-sensitive.
MUST_CHANGE
Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2017 and Parallel Data Warehouse.
Applies only to SQL Server logins. If this option is included, SQL Server SQL Server will prompt for an updated password the first time the altered login is used.
DEFAULT_DATABASE =_database_
Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2017
Specifies a default database to be assigned to the login.
DEFAULT_LANGUAGE =_language_
Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2017
Specifies a default language to be assigned to the login. The default language for all SQL Database logins is English and cannot be changed. The default language of the sa login on SQL Server on Linux, is English but it can be changed.
NAME = login_name
The new name of the login that is being renamed. If this is a Windows login, the SID of the Windows principal corresponding to the new name must match the SID associated with the login in SQL Server The new name of a SQL Server SQL Server login cannot contain a backslash character (\).
CHECK_EXPIRATION = { ON | OFF }
Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2017 and Parallel Data Warehouse.
Applies only to SQL Server logins. Specifies whether password expiration policy should be enforced on this login. The default value is OFF.
CHECK_POLICY = { ON | OFF }
Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2017 and Parallel Data Warehouse.
Applies only to SQL Server logins. Specifies that the Windows password policies of the computer on which SQL Server SQL Server is running should be enforced on this login. The default value is ON.
CREDENTIAL = credential_name
Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2017
The name of a credential to be mapped to a SQL Server login. The credential must already exist in the server. For more information see Credentials (Database Engine). A credential cannot be mapped to the sa login.
NO CREDENTIAL
Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2017
Removes any existing mapping of the login to a server credential. For more information see Credentials (Database Engine).
UNLOCK
Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2017 and Parallel Data Warehouse.
Applies only to SQL Server logins. Specifies that a login that is locked out should be unlocked.
ADD CREDENTIAL
Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2017
Adds an Extensible Key Management (EKM) provider credential to the login. For more information, see Extensible Key Management (EKM).
DROP CREDENTIAL
Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2017
Removes an Extensible Key Management (EKM) provider credential from the login. For more information see Extensible Key Management (EKM).
When CHECK_POLICY is set to ON, the HASHED argument cannot be used.
When CHECK_POLICY is changed to ON, the following behavior occurs:
When CHECK_POLICY is changed to OFF, the following behavior occurs:
CHECK_EXPIRATION is also set to OFF.
The password history is cleared.
The value of lockout_time is reset.
If MUST_CHANGE is specified, CHECK_EXPIRATION and CHECK_POLICY must be set to ON. Otherwise, the statement will fail.
If CHECK_POLICY is set to OFF, CHECK_EXPIRATION cannot be set to ON. An ALTER LOGIN statement that has this combination of options will fail.
You cannot use ALTER_LOGIN with the DISABLE argument to deny access to a Windows group. For example, ALTER_LOGIN [*domain] DISABLE will return the following error message:
"Msg 15151, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
"Cannot alter the login ’*Domain’, because it does not exist or you do not have permission."
This is by design.
In SQL Database login data required to authenticate a connection and server-level firewall rules are temporarily cached in each database. This cache is periodically refreshed. To force a refresh of the authentication cache and make sure that a database has the latest version of the logins table, execute DBCC FLUSHAUTHCACHE (Transact-SQL).
Requires ALTER ANY LOGIN permission.
If the CREDENTIAL option is used, also requires ALTER ANY CREDENTIAL permission.
If the login that is being changed is a member of the sysadmin fixed server role or a grantee of CONTROL SERVER permission, also requires CONTROL SERVER permission when making the following changes:
Resetting the password without supplying the old password.
Enabling MUST_CHANGE, CHECK_POLICY, or CHECK_EXPIRATION.
Changing the login name.
Enabling or disabling the login.
Mapping the login to a different credential.
A principal can change the password, default language, and default database for its own login.
The following example enables the login Mary5.
The following example changes the password of login Mary5 to a strong password.
The following example changes the name of login Mary5 to John2.
The following example maps the login John2 to the credential Custodian04.
The following example maps the login Mary5 to the EKM credential EKMProvider1.
Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2017
To unlock a SQL Server login, execute the following statement, replacing **** with the desired account password.
To unlock a login without changing the password, turn the check policy off and then on again.
The following example changes the password of the TestUser login to an already hashed value.
Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2017
ALTER LOGIN TestUser WITH
PASSWORD = 0x01000CF35567C60BFB41EBDE4CF700A985A13D773D6B45B90900 HASHED ;
GO Credentials (Database Engine)
CREATE LOGIN (Transact-SQL)
DROP LOGIN (Transact-SQL)
CREATE CREDENTIAL (Transact-SQL)
EVENTDATA (Transact-SQL)
Extensible Key Management (EKM)